Category: Planetary

Comet Over the Snow

Comet Lulin

Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3)
Sketch and Details by Giorgio Bonacorsi

Hello Astronomy sketchers,all o.k.? After bad weather month, finally i take Lulin with big bino 25×100.The snow down my feets make a sound like “krok”! The night was very freezly,the light icely wind passed over my face,but the sky was dark and clear,normal situation in winter.I take my big bino on wood’s tripod and made that sketch.Beautyfull vision, the comet was very bright, with tail and anti tail visible with difficulty.
I sent you the information about this.

Site:Pergola,Italy 16 February 2009
Time:01,05 a.m.
Instrument:Big bino Astrotech 25×100
Seeing:Optimal
Temperature:Ice,little wind.

Thanks for all,clear sky,Giorgio Bonacorsi.

Dazzling Goddess

Venus

Planet Venus
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

I made an observation of Venus on February 10, 2009 (00:30 U.T.) using my 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain (248x) under average to good seeing conditions (5-7/10). The central meridian was 271.7 degrees West, phase 35% (p 0.350), and apparent magnitude of -4.6. I was using a magenta (Wratten 30) filter, enhances both red and blue features and darkens green ones, to bring out the subtle albedo features over the Venusian cloud tops. I was able to make out delicate albedo features over the visible globe and especially along the terminator. Obviously they became more apparent when the seeing steadied for brief moments.

A digital image produced using Photoshop CS3.

Carlos

Saturn’s Rings Nearly Edge On

Saturn edge on and moons

Saturn and moons in mid February 2009
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

Saturn in mid-February 2009

While I was awaiting the waning gibbous moon to reach a higher position in my southern sky, I decided to try my hand at a Saturn sketch. With the rings nearly edge on I find that the ring system is much less intimidating to portray. To begin the sketch I used a Conte’ crayon and circular compass to draw a faint circle on black paper. I then grabbed an old mechanical drawing tool called a French curve to convert the circle into an ellipse after plotting a few points to create an equatorial bulge. When the shape looked alright for the bulging globe, I sketched the rings and then the globe while looking through a 6 mm eyepiece (magnification 241x). Saturn usually give me trouble while sketching, so after 15 minutes I found myself making too many errors so I erased the sketch and started over on the reverse side of the paper. The second attempt went better and after an hour I considered the planet sketch finished. I made a note of the positions of the moons I could see and added Tethys (10.3) to the west of the planet and Enceladus (11.9) viewed intermittently and Dione (10.5) to the east. Titan and Rhea were visible in the eyepiece at low power but beyond the margins of the sketch. The planets equatorial zone and the north and south temperate zones were bright and distinct. The darker regions over the remainder of the disk were less distinct through the polarizing filter I was using.

Sketching:

For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, 7”x 9”, and a white Conte’pastel pencil and Conte’ crayons. The globe of Saturn is about 2.5” inches in diameter and was done using sharpened pieces of Conte’ crayon. Brightness was slightly decreased (-3) and contrast increased (+3) after scanning using Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

Telescope: 10 inch f/5.7 Dobsonian and 6mm eyepiece 241x, single polarizing filter
Date: 2-13-2009 5:25 – 6:45 UT
Temperature: -2°C (29°F)
clear, calm
Seeing: Pickering 6.0

Frank McCabe

Awaiting the Opening of the Ring Plane

Saturn

Saturn, February 13, 2002
Sketch and Details by Per-Jonny Bremseth, text by Rich Handy

Per-Jonny Bremseth’s beautiful 2002 rendition of Saturn with wide open rings contrasts with it’s current almost closed appearance. The nearly edge on view of the rings we have now will, over the course of a few years, open the ring plane up again for our appreciation of it’s wonders.

Lulin From El Mirage, Arizona

Comet Lulin

Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin
Sketch and Details by Juan Perez “Juanchin”

Object: C/2007 N3 LULIN
Date: Jan 29, 2009
Time: 06:15 LST / 13:15 UTC
Location: El Mirage Arizona
Instrument: Orion 25×100 binoculars 2.5deg FOV
Detector: Visual Observation
Magnitude: ~7.5 –8
Weather : clear skies, biting winds, temp. 45degF

Comments:
I’ ve been keeping an eye on Lulin for the past few days and, I have yet to discern whether a tail is visible from this semi-urban town. Averted vision is playing tricks with me. I’d like to say that I see a tail pointing East but I’m in doubt. The diffused coma appears to have an oblong shape to it. Somehow this comet is supposed to brighten but today it seemed to be in the magnitude of around 8. Last week the comet was like in the magnitude of 7 and looked compact and pronounced on my binoculars. As I was sketching an Iridium flare passed right through my view from a West to Northernly direction. – Awsome!

Lulin Under Clear Dark Skies

Comet Lulin

Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin
Sketch and Details by Michael Rosolina

C/2007 N3 (Lulin)
Comet
Friars Hill, West Virginia
23 January 2009

I got up early Friday morning before the waning crescent moonrise to get a fresh look at Comet Lulin under clear, dark skies. Except for images and Jeremy Perez’s sketch, I hadn’t seen the comet since early January and I was curious to see what changes had occurred visually. Lulin is still in the constellation Libra, but it is much brighter and higher in the sky now, an easy binocular object. The coma appears elongated due to the near head-on perspective from our point of view here on Earth and to the comet’s unusual orbital geometry. After viewing Lulin with my 12×36 image stabilized binoculars, I used my 108mm reflector and graphite pencils on white paper to make this field sketch which I later inverted digitally.

Best,

Michael Rosolina

A Labor of Love for Lulin

Comet Lulin

Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin
Sketch and Details by Martin McKenna

Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin

Before dawn on the morning of January 23rd 2009 I made my very first observation of comet C/2007 N3 Lulin. The reward took a long time in coming because I had been up before the Sun every single morning for several weeks in the hope of making an early observation of this exciting comet. However, due to clouds, severe air frosts, and dense fog the comet alluded me during this period. This morning I woke up just after 05.00 UT to a great clear sky. It was very cold and frosty with slippery ice on the ground but the sky was in good shape. I grabbed by camera, tripod, and 10x50mm binoculars (B50) and got prepared to track down the comet. Lulin was too low in the sky to see from home so I had to walk up to a hill which was several hundreds metres away. I glanced into the east and saw the bright stars of Scorpius and Libra. I spent 15 min’s scanning with B50 without success and came to the conclusion that I really needed something more powerful for a proper look.

I decided to go back home and get the 8.5″ F/7 dobsonian reflector but due to its weight I had to lift it in two sections. This involved four trips to get the rocker box and tube to my comet hunting location. After I took a few min’s to catch my breath I checked that the telrad was aligned then guided the scope into western Scorpius. I began a series of vertical sweeps while gradually working my way S into Libra. After a few min’s I found Lulin a few degrees below 38 Librae at 05.29 UT. This was my first new comet observation of 2009 and the 48th comet I have hunted down since I began many years ago so I was delighted!. I observed the comet for 30 min’s in the frigid conditions then brought the scope back home again which involved four more trips. When I entered the my back garden I realized that the comet was actually visible just above my fence in the SE so my previous trip was in vain. I got comfortable and began to study Lulin in comfort.

My immediate impression was that the comet was very bright. It struck me just how healthy and active the coma looked even at a casual glance. The coma was at least 7′ in dia with a very intense white-coloured and disk-shaped central condensation with star-like false nucleus at centre. The outer coma was an obvious green colour. On several occasions I seen at least one jet within the coma pointing to the S. The anti-tail was very faint and elusive and required good dark adaption and averted vision. I noticed that it didn’t point directly towards the Sun but slightly to the W of S which is something I have not seen on images or in other reports. By this stage the background sky in the FOV was grey and hazy. I had to move the scope in various directions to pick out the faint details so I’m not 100% certain about what I saw. I found the colourless anti-tail to be at least 20′ long but I suspected it to be much longer. The gas/ion tail was much brighter and pointed in a generally S direction. To me this tail was green and sported a smooth profile and seemed to broaden with distance away from the coma much like a search beam. I could easily see the tail for a minimum of 1 degree but again I’m sure it’s much longer that this. Seeing both tails at the same time was quite a treat!

Despite the very poor quality of my binoculars I was still able to find the comet easily. I also tried very carefully to detect it with the naked eye but I just couldn’t convince myself that it was visible. However, I suspect that with excellent sky conditions the first naked eye observations will be reported very soon. As for a magnitude estimate, I didn’t really make one because I was trying to ferret out the details within the tail but based on the ease of which I could see the coma in the scope I would say approx mag +6.5, give or take a mag or so on either side. I think this comet could very well put on a good show in Feb as along as it continues to brighten. I will be watching Lulin every clear morning for now on. I ended the night with a mug of tea and watched the twilight arch grow. It was 07.15 UT before I finally left the comet alone to continue it’s journey towards Earth.

Clear skies

Martin McKenna, Maghera, N. Ireland.

Two of the Solar System Giants

Jupiter and Saturn

Planets Jupiter and Saturn
Sketch and Details by Janis Romer

Janis wrote:
“6/11/86, 9pm – midnight. Temple University’s Ambler Campus Celestron-14. I was so busy drawing that I entirely forgot to record eyepieces and observing conditions.”

This splendid pair of color pastel sketches captures many of the main attractions of Jupiter and Saturn as seen at the eyepiece in late spring of 1986. At that time Saturn was in the southwestern sky while Jupiter was in the southeast. – Frank McCabe

Saturn at the Beginning of 2009

Saturn with moons

Saturn with moons at the beginning of 2009
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

I made an observation of Saturn on the first day of the new year (January 1, 2009) at 07:30 U.T. using my 9-inch (23-cm) F/13.5 Maksutov-Cassegrain at 163x and 344x under clear and steady seeing conditions (S: 7/10, T: 5/6). It was exciting and strange to observe the ringed planet with such thin rings.

My wide field observation made at 163x depicts Saturn at the center with five satellites visible. The satellites, from following to proceeding, are Titan (8.4m), Enceladus (11.7m), Dione (10.4m), Rhea (9.8m), and Iapetus (11.1m).

A digital observation made using Photoshop CS3.

Saturn

Saturn at the beginning of 2009 under higher magnification
Sketch and Details by Carlos E. Hernandez

At a higher magnification (344x) Saturn exhibited detail over its globe. The following is a description of the visible regions of the planet;

South Polar Region (SPR) was dark to dusky (3-4/10) with a dark (3/10) central core.
South Temperate Zone (STZ) was shaded to bright (6-7/10) and mottled.
South Equatorial Belt (SEB) appeared dark to dusky (3-4/10) with a thin, bright (7/10) zone over its center.
Equatorial Zone (EZ) appeared bright (7/10) with no detail visible within.
Ring Shadow (RS) appeared very dark (2/10) and thin
North Tropical Zone (NTrZ) appeared shaded to bright (6-7/10).
North Equatorial Belt (NEB) appeared dusky (4/10) and thin.
North Temperate Zone (NTZ) appeared shaded (6/10)
North Polar Region (NPR) appeared dark to dusky (3-4/10)

The rings appeared dusky (4/10) without any detail visible over them.

A digital observation made using Photoshop CS3.

Carlos Hernandez